A moment with: Kimberly Martinez

A native of Colorado, Kimberly Martinez is a Prospect Development Analyst with the CommonSpirit Health national philanthropy team. Kimberly joined the philanthropy team in August of 2010.

Kimberly observes that what makes CommonSpirit’s philanthropy ministry special is our reach. The national team, Kimberly notes, can reach out across larger areas and if there is overabundance in one area we can put it to use across the organization as a whole ...based on the fund or grant restrictions, of course.

Philanthropy is …
Philanthropy is needed.

Can you tell us about your background before coming to commonSpirit?
Out of high school I did odd jobs in manufacturing. I was with a tech company called Quantum for seven years until they shifted everything to Malaysia. They offered to educate people - to pay unemployment and pay for schooling - so I went to school to be a medical administrative assistant and got my associates degree. I interned at Penrose Hospital which is part of Centura Health. After my internship I was offered a job in the Health Learning Center which houses the senior clinic, diabetes clinic and Coumadin clinic. I was there for almost eight years.

Leia Morgan, who I worked with before, had made the move to philanthropy and kept telling me about the good work they were doing and how the company was expanding nationally. The more she talked, the more interested I became in the projects that they were working on and how they were helping not just Colorado but the Nebraska region and the North Dakota region. That really caught my eye. I did finally apply and made the move.

Can you describe your role?
Initially, I started doing data entry and Raiser’s Edge for different foundations and slowly my role progressed. Now I’m doing prospect research. I do research for any foundation who may need one-off profiles or to screen a list through WealthEngine to get their giving capacity, find out if they have the capacity to give and what they give to.

I've done a little bit of everything from gift processing, data entry, pulling lists from Raiser’s Edge, doing mailings and volunteering at events.

Is there a prospect story that stands out to you?
Recently, during COVID, there was a couple who dropped off PPE to a hospital in Arizona because they were in need. Through research, we found that they had their own foundation and then realized that one of the doctors at the hospital had a connection to the gentleman. At that point [the Arizona foundation] was able to talk with the doctor and he was able to organize a meeting. That meeting resulted in a pretty significant gift. That stands out to me because my research and the part I played helped with a large gift. That made an impact on me as far as knowing that my role does count.

What do you love most about your job?
I wouldn't say that I'm nosey but I come from a long line of nosey people in my family. In my research work, I find it fascinating to learn about people’s lives, their families, the things they’ve done and their impact. I find that part of my job very interesting and exciting and I can get lost for hours researching somebody … until I know I have to cut myself off!

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
My father was in law enforcement the entire time I was growing up. He went from being a park ranger to being sheriff. I always saw myself kind of going in that direction just to follow in his footsteps. But he deterred me from that. He said “No, don't do that. Go into health care.” It’s funny how I ended up in health care … not initially but several years later.

And if you could do anything else now, what would it be?
I'd love to be a beach bum and sit on a beach somewhere with an umbrella drink. I think with COVID these days you just want to be able to relax and not have to worry about people around you getting sick of whatever the case may be.

I don't see myself really doing anything different. I mean, I enjoy what I'm doing and I enjoy CommonSpirit. I'm pretty comfortable where I'm at.

What’s something that might surprise others about you?
The real head scratcher is that I’ve been married four times to the same person.

I’ve been married to my wife, Joanna, for 20 years now and initially, we had a ceremony in the park. It was a Pride Fest and they had a group civil union so we did the civil union on TV. Once my family found out that we didn’t invite them we had to, you know, plan a wedding in a church and have another ceremony two years later. When civil union was legal in Colorado we had that as well in 2013 and then in 2014 we made the trip to Boulder to the Clerk and Recorder’s office and got the official marriage license. We got married in Boulder County to make it official on our actual anniversary, July 22.

What does relaxation look like for you?
Walks. We’ve been doing lots of walks. With my wife and my son, typically we go for a walk at lunchtime. She’s working from home too now and he was off in the summer so he’d ride his bike and we’d walk for around half an hour for a lunch break. On the weekends typically we go for a hike to Garden of the Gods or this weekend we did Zapata Falls. That was beautiful.